Literary Juxtaposition
by Diana-Jae
Summary: When you fall in love with a girl that’s bad news as far as “Japanese Mafias” go, how much of the abuse are you willing to take before you finally just give up? – HieixBotanxShuuichi [Chapter 4 up]
1. Botan: The Yakuza Princess

Literary Juxtaposition 

**[Chapter 1 – Botan: The Yakuza Princess]**

Sixteen dangerously wonderful years of age and beyond gorgeous, Botan Imamura confidently stood face-to-face with her full-body reflection just as she did everyday since she learned that the world provided humans with the beautiful pieces of glass meant for the most narcissistic. Staring into the mirror had started out as a habit but as the years progressed, it had become some kind of a ritual to stand before it every morning and calculate her height, weight, posture, size, her over-all image with her eyes. 

Her hand resting languidly on her slender waist, her eyes roamed down to her long, well-defined legs finding herself to be content with its shine and smoothness. She could not remember her mother, but she had casually heard from her father's employees that _Mrs. Imamura had some damn fine legs_, which probably, they'd imagine, to be very useful in _cradling_ – whatever the hell that meant. A strand of misplaced hair suddenly fell over her eyes, but before it could make contact with her face, her agile fingers had already grasped it tightly and patted it down to its place with the rest of the silken blue mass atop her precious head.

Satisfied with her classic up-do, her head automatically bent forward, as if by time-precise schedule, toward the looking glass where her eyes momentarily scanned her face, looking for any hint of dryness or flaw in her dainty, cream complexion. Finding none, the lids of her eyes came to a close so that her long lashes could come into contact with another once before they would gently move apart revealing a glossier pair of large, almond-shaped lavender oculars. Content with the diamonds in her eyes and the rosy hue in her cheeks and healthy color in her lush lips, she picked up the leather schoolbag that lay lifeless on the floor, which soon developed a sense of animation as she slung it across her narrow shoulders.

The young woman took one step back and eyed her pressed uniform one last time, making sure that certain parts of her uniform hugged snugly to the accented curves of her body. Dusting off the remaining bits of lint and dust, and with an arrogant disposition that paralleled the smile that dressed her dewy, cherry lips, she sashayed out of her room, looking very forward to her third year at Sarayashiki High School.

**

**Author Notes:** ^^; I must say that this is the shortest chapter that I have ever written. Well, this is just the "this-is-all-about-Botan" chapter. The first few chapters are going to set you up for the main characters' "roles" in this fic, but, unlike this one, there'll actually be a plot to the next three "character" chapters. =]

I will be elaborating more on Botan's being the daughter of Japan's "current" yet "fictional" Yakuza boss, but I won't get into that just yet. I'll progressively introduce that aspect into the fic as the story goes on because it's imperative to the plot. And why my sudden interest for the Yakuza? ^^; I have no idea. I just thought that since I haven't found a fic concerning YYH and the Yakuza, oh what the hey, I'll do one. And here you go.

This chapter didn't really give a general idea of what the fic is about, and I don't know how well the story summary has informed you, but if you're still foggy about this fic's concept, well, that was my intention. Please don't be mad. You should be able to grasp some meaning in the next chapter… I hope. =\

Well, please read and review. Comments, suggestions, flames, etc – they're all very welcome.

Any Kurama (Shuuichi) x Botan fans reading? Please visit and support this clique:

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For those who did join and/or submitted anything to the site in the past 2-3 weeks, you haven't been neglected. We'll be updating this weekend or Monday, November 3'. Making it a point in the schedule book. ^^ Oh, and Happy Halloween! TRICK OR TREAT!

**Disclaimers:** Yuu Yuu Hakusho and its characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Shounen Jump, etc. Don't sue, You are cool. =]


	2. Minamino: The Yakuza Knight

Literary Juxtaposition 

**[Chapter 2 – Minamino: The Yakuza Knight]**

It was seven o'clock in the midsummer morning when the soft but definitely strong chimes rang throughout the estate to let a man with an expressionless face and attired in black and white know that there was someone waiting at the front door. Being that it was his obligation to answer the door, he excused himself politely from serving the man in the giant velvet armchair his morning tea to retrieve the door.

The gold watch around his wrist told him exactly who was waiting out front.

"Seven o'clock on the dot. First day since the end of last school year." He swung the giant door open from its gray and white marble arc to find, not surprisingly, an equally nonchalant young man with hair the color of fire standing with his hands in the pockets of his black jacket. "Young Minamino, you certainly have not lost your touch."

"Good morning to you too, old man."

"Ms. Imamura is still in the process of getting ready. I presume she'll be down in the next few minutes."

"Seems like I'm not the only who hasn't lost their touch, is it?"

The old man shook his head in reply, and stepped aside to allow the crude youth into the foyer where he waited every morning for the young woman's voice to ring in his ears, usually accompanied by a nickname she had personally labeled him with as of recent.

His square-shouldered, confident figure did not even get a step to his right to maybe engage in some meaningful conversation with his _boss_ when the sound of the padding of feet on the manor's carpeted floor drifted to his sensitive hearing. He whipped his head towards the spiral staircase to see a long-legged young woman skipping down the marble-cornered flight of steps looking at him.

"Mornin', sugar-muffin. Lemme just grab some toast in the kitchen, and then we can go."

He smiled inwardly. 

No, she had definitely not lost her touch either. In the midst of watching her retreat to her destination, another voice triggered him to turn and walk towards his previous destination – the living room. Never knowing exactly what to expect from the elderly man, he stepped into the inviting light anyway.

"Morning, boss."

"Sugar-muffin?" A white-suited man sitting in a red, velvet armchair purposely ignored the boy's greeting and immediately asked about the pet name from behind the newspaper he was so engrossed in. "Is that a new one, Minamino? I don't recall hearing that one before."

Minamino nodded his head. "Childish, sir."

He laughed. "But you like her, yes?"

"Sir, my business with you and your daughter is exactly that."

"Exactly what?"

"_Business_."

"Ah, I see." Though the one called Minamino could not see the elderly man's entire visage just then, the moment he peeked his eyes out from behind the paper indicated that there was a sort of teasing in the shape of his lips. "Just business, is it?" He took in a breath of air and pushed his nose back into the newspaper that he had been occupied with before jumping into the business of his daughter and their bodyguard. "You never were one to be able to _directly_ lie to me, boy."

"Unfortunately."

"What do you suppose makes that so?"

"Loyalty."

"Do you _genuinely_ believe that?"

"Sir?"

"You were gifted with intelligence, Minamino. I would surmise you to use it wisely instead of wasting such a gift by hindering it through idleness."

"You aren't my father."

"No," he put his paper down and looked straight into the flourishing green windows of the young man's soul and smiled with such sympathy that it was almost uncharacteristic. "And there is no one that can replace him. Minamino was a good man, and so is his son." He reclined in his chair and lit a cigarette. "I only find it pitiful that the present Minamino refrains from putting the emotions riding on revenge and fury into action rather than keeping it within."

"What I choose to do with my life, if you please, should not be influenced by you. Your only obligation to me, sir, is to allow me to protect you and your daughter. Nothing more."

"But the obligation, which you have laid out, that I have to you does _influence_ you, boy. Whether or not you are oblivious to the fact that you're fucking around with the Yakuza, the reality is that you _are_, and by God, one of the best at it."

"So," he tapped his lit cigarette against the rim of the ashtray to discard it of the ashes at the tip, "again, _what_ do you suppose makes _that_ so?"

"…Greed."

A fine strand of blue was getting ready to fall over his pale, purple eyes, but it never was able to complete its bend towards the elderly man's face before it found itself matted back against the rest of blue strands. The man smiled. "That's my boy."

**

**Author Notes:** Second chapter finished. ^^ How did you guys find it? Confusing? Ironically, I thought it was, and _I'm _the author. o.O I think the only reason why I find it confusing is because a lot of the things I revealed about Shuuichi were implied and towards the end, I played around with double meanings. 

To clarify anything you didn't catch, the greed that I'm referring to here isn't supposed to mean just greed for money but, among other things, greed for revenge, greed for respect, greed for Mr. Imamura's daughter – Botan. That's where I played around with double meanings. The old man mentions something about _fucking_ around, and I meant for that to come out that he acknowledges the fact that Minamino's good at kicking ass but that he also knows that Minamino's been screwing his kid. (Because of this, bear in mind that the rating is subject to change. And just for the record, Botan's not a slut-whore. Their "relationship" is kind of legit relative to the "screwing".)

I don't want to reiterate the whole "Yakuza" history that I read, but I just want to let you know that the relationship between Shuuichi and Mr. Imamura is one of "oyabun-kobun". It's something like a father-son role that they play with the son swearing loyalty and services to the oyabun, hence Shuuichi's being Mr. Imamura's personal bodyguard, and here, in implication, also his successor. My information could be totally wrong, but it's all fiction so don't come after me with blowtorches or anything. :P

And the last line concerning that strand of hair: I was just making a connection to Botan, so if it sounds distastefully similar to something you've read in the previous chapter, I was just trying to make a reference to Botan's being like her father, which is going to have a more significant effect after Mr. Imamura's character is revealed. 

On to less deeper matter: **Dulce** à wow… I had absolutely no idea how much any of you liked it. ^^; I'm flattered. I'm working on the 6'th installment, but it's hard to get to certain points without complicating things, so I apologize that it's taking a while for me to get it out.

Any Kurama (Shuuichi) x Botan fans reading? Please visit and support this clique:

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**Disclaimers:** Yuu Yuu Hakusho and its characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Shounen Jump, etc. Don't sue, You are cool. =]


	3. Jaganshi: The Rebel

Literary Juxtaposition 

**[Chapter 3 – Jaganshi: The Rebel]**

SLAM!

A young man of average height emitted a carefully calculated growl from his throat as he shut the metal door to his locker.

He did not like this new school, nor did he really hold a fine affinity for school in general. And most of all, he despised the people in it. Unaccustomed to such order and neatness in comparison to his old school, he could not help but feel the growing resentment of having to be transferred to what he preferred to call a school with students whose under garments were on too tight for comfort.

Inside, his anger was directed more to his stepfather, who, after marrying his mother, changed his life by moving them to the corporate metropolitan area compared to the downright rough, dirty and gritty sect of the city where he was born and raised. He did not like his new father, and given the chance, and if he wasn't so attuned to the feelings of his mother and dear twin sister towards this man, he would certainly have had no problem in taking a gun to his head. His stepfather was not a _Jaganshi_, not of his blood, therefore, he was more than willing to spill this man's blood for ever thinking that he could control the family.

As he walked down the hall, his dark crimson eyes did not fail to notice the gaping expressions of shock and maybe even awe from the other students. Had he been strutting down the halls of his old school and gotten the same expression from his peers, he would have felt the rush of excitement course through his veins instead of this present feeling of irritation. So irritated, in fact, that when a young man, possibly one year beneath him, came up to him and timidly told him how he admired him for being so rebellious _especially in this school_, he immediately found himself flattened against the wall without any understanding of how he got there in the first place.

He could not quite understand how walking around with a scowl on his face could make him so _rebellious_ as the boy had put it… that is, until the principal saw him and yelled at him.

"Hiei Jaganshi!" Her shrill voice made him cringe, and not so much in fear but in aggravation.

He turned around and eyed her from head to foot, measuring the power she wielded in that tiny body of hers. Coming to his conclusion, he leaned against one of the lockers, shrugged, and responded nonchalantly, "What the hell do you want, lady?"

The small woman's eyes widened and her lips shaped itself into a large and perfectly shaped o. She stood still and looked at him with that same face for a few moments in complete silence while he continued to stare her down only now a nice slanted grin was planted on his lips.

"Jaganshi, I am calling your father."

He looked off to the side, now irritated that she had called that bastard of a man his father. "My father's dead, lady."

"Jaganshi!" she shrieked. "My office. Now!" Clipboard in hand, she marched him to her office. "And put on your jacket. In this school, we are _conservative_."

He rolled his eyes and stiffly jammed one hand into his pocket. So _that's _what the boy had meant by rebellious. It had nothing to do with the scowl on his face. It might also have explained the reason for the female eyes that he felt were devouring his body.

It might be a long year, but it would be beyond simple to push the buttons of the administrators and perhaps turn this strange world upside down. His name surely did not mean _flying shadow_ for nothing, and as long as he had to be a part of this community, he might as well transfer his reputation from his old life to the new one.

**

**Author Notes:** Hiei's introduction is, to say the least, not quite as confusing as Shuuichi's. ^^' I'm no longer reading _Hamlet_, for English, so I don't know if I'll be making any more of the upcoming chapters as confusing or filled with double meanings and other random subtleties. Yes, the last two chapters were influenced by_ Hamlet_, the Shakespearian play. T_T I hated that play, especially because my teacher was over-analytical for my taste, but it had the strangest effect on my writing. But now that we've moved on, I don't know if the chapters I'll now be writing are going to carry the same style as the previous two chapters. I'm not complaining though. ^___^

Anyhoo, about the story in general, the next few chapters will be introducing more characters. I think I have about another two characters to introduce to you. Then I'll jump into a real plot and leave other character introductions somewhere in the middle or something. :P

And for all you Hiei fans, here's your chapter. I hope you liked it. He's still the smug and arrogant (but loveable) character that he is. If he displeased you for any reason, well, this is AU, and I was never good at keeping characters in character anyway. ^^;

Well, please read and review. Comments, suggestions, flames, etc – they're all very welcome.

Any Kurama (Shuuichi) x Botan fans reading? Please visit and support this clique:

www . geocities . com / kb _ reflections

**Disclaimers:** Yuu Yuu Hakusho and its characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Shounen Jump, etc. Don't sue, You are cool. =]_aH_


	4. Yuusuke: The Cousin

**Literary Juxtaposition**

**Chapter 4 – Yuusuke: The Cousin**

Arriving at the front steps of Sarayashiki High School, a cross between a sigh and a moan rolled out of Botan's lips as she removed her helmet from her head.

"You know, sugar-muffin," the young woman started as she climbed off of the motorbike, "I really do hate the fact that you choose to ride this bike over driving a sports car or the like. The helmet always disagrees with my hair."

Shuuichi's emerald eyes narrowed from beneath the dark visor of his helmet. "And what would you like me to do about it, _princess_?"

A very subtle triumphant smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she stared into the darkness of his visor. Though she could not see his eyes, she knew that she had managed to irritate him because although she hadn't directly told him what it was she wanted him to do, she knew that the answer was swimming about tauntingly in his head. With the exception of Mr. Imamura, Shuuichi Minamino was never patient with people who dared to so much as just imply that they could tell him what and what not to do, including the daughter of his boss. Botan took a step toward him, and leaned forward so her bright lilac irises would be level with Shuuichi's beneath the visor. Licking her lips, she whispered, "I don't know, _Shuuichi_. What do _you_ think I want you to do about it?"

When the lad on the motorbike still said nothing, Botan straightened up and allowed a giggle to flow out of her lips. "I'll see you later, sugar-muffin." She was just about to turn around and head up the steps towards the school building when she suddenly felt a firm grip encircle her wrist. Botan flipped around just as quickly, an unbecoming frown nestled upon her forehead.

"I'll be picking you up at four o' clock this afternoon." His firm hold on her wrist began to loosen. "I don't give a shit if you have class committee duties to attend to. I _don't_ want you to be late," he half-growled as he let her go.

The frown that was once settled upon her features had long ago disappeared, and in its stead was something that of mischief. "Would you like me to just skip school altogether, sugar-muffin?" she purred.

"No." Shuuichi was no longer looking at her and instead had his gaze fixed ahead of him, his body leaned forward ready to leave. "If I remember correctly, you always did like it rough. Besides, your father disapproves of truancy." With that the youth revved up his bike, and sped off without waiting for an answer.

"I missed you too, _Shuuichi_," Botan managed to whisper. Whirling around, she made her way through the crowd of other students currently absorbed in reuniting with the friends they had missed over their three-month vacation.

Botan came across familiar faces, all of which greeted her with smiles lined with fear, casual and very brief hellos, or scowls. Her identity as a gangster's daughter had been well concealed in the beginning, but as rumors do have a tendency to spread, it was only a mere few weeks before fear and hatred circulated. Of course, the school board and the district directors were paid handsomely to keep from exposing them, and a deal had been made to allow Botan attendance at the school as long as no trouble would brew.

Seldom would she see genuine expressions of happiness at her return. These she usually got from the sons and daughters of parents who were connected in one way or another to her father. And one of these youths was none other than her cousin, Yuusuke Urameshi.

Confident, profane, and one of Sarayashiki's most notorious troublemakers, Yuusuke Urameshi excused himself from his group of friends as soon as he saw a familiar silken mass of sky-blue. Hands deeply rooted in his pants pockets, he walked up to his cousin with a silly grin on his face and invited himself to peck her on the cheek.

"Prince Charming back in your life this year?" Yuusuke always referred to Shuuichi as her _Prince Charming_ because of his status as her bodyguard.

"Are we in the same class again, Yuusuke?" Botan asked, ignoring his query for the answer was too obvious to be said.

"Yeah. 3-5 A." Yuusuke looked down at his cousin whose eyes were scanning the hallway for nothing in particular when he began to fidget. Botan did not fail to notice this and so acknowledged her cousin in the hopes of entertaining him.

"I don't feel like talking about it here," he replied, motioning with his head towards the door that lead to the roof of the school. "It's kind of personal," he paused to look away, and to Botan's surprise, a blush colored his cheeks, a very rare occurrence, "…and it's a little embarrassing."

Botan nodded and followed her cousin to the rooftop, a place they usually went to when they needed to talk about things that were a matter of genuine concern. Rarely were they ever there so Botan knew this had to be either urgent or confidential.

Upon reaching the top, Yuusuke walked over to the ledge and reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes and lit one. There was no need to offer one to his cousin because although the young lady was raised around men that smoked cigarettes as if it were the end of the world, it was something that she did not have a preference for.

Botan waited beside him, gazing down at the hundreds of students on the floor level exchanging gossip and the like. She didn't dare to prod Yuusuke to tell her quickly about his situation. Her father had taught her that you get the best results when you have patience.

A puff of smoke emerged fluidly from between Yuusuke's lips as he simultaneously tapped the cigarette to allow the ashen branch of the stick to fall off. His dark eyes tore from where it was fixed out in the horizon to look into her bright pair of lavender ones.

"You know how I've always told you that I've felt that this delinquent shit wasn't who I was?"

"It isn't," Botan agreed flatly. "You're tough and you can definitely stand your own ground against at least ten of my dad's men, but you're far too compassionate to be considered _true _gangster material."

An almost dead sort of grin twisted itself upon Yuusuke's lips. "Is that what my uncle has been saying about me?"

Botan leaned against the edge of the building and stared at the fine and intricate design of orchid and vine on her fingernails as she thought about the question. It was definitely something her father _could_ say, but it wasn't from him that she had heard it from. "Actually, my dad never says anything like that about you, Yuusuke. In fact, he always has something appraising to say about you. He always did see you as something like the son he never had."

"Then did you come up with that conclusion yourself?"

"No." Botan turned her head to meet eyes with her cousin who was gazing at her with dark eyes filled with curiosity. "Actually, Shuuichi observed that. I merely agreed after he pointed it out."

Yuusuke let out a purely uninhibited laughter at her answer. "Figures why I didn't like that guy in the very beginning. He's too sharp."

Botan glanced at him through the corners of her eyes, trying to understand what it was that he was thinking. She had once assumed that the reason why Yuusuke had disliked Shuuichi was because he knew that Botan's father was most likely going to make Shuuichi his heir. Later, she realized that it had nothing to do with that. It was something on more personal terms. Still, she wished to defend Shuuichi and clarify the way her father felt about him. "Shuuichi, himself, isn't the reason why my father isn't handing down his legacy to you," Botan explained. "I told you. You're like a son to him. He thinks about you almost the same way you think about yourself. You really are too good of a person to get too caught up in all that he's ever done. What you've experienced so far is nothing compared to what my father has gone through. You wouldn't want to inherit all that deceit and bloodshed. It isn't in you."

Yuusuke's eyes narrowed at her statement. He agreed that Mr. Imamura did treat him like the son he never had. At the age of seven, Yuusuke's father had left him and his mother, who had fallen ill, in order to find a better occupation to pay for his wife's medical needs. He never returned. Yuusuke's uncle had not discovered his sister's situation until a year later and offered to provide financial assistance to her and his nephew. Leaving behind Shibuya where he grew up, he and his mother moved to an apartment in Nagoya where his uncle lived. Feeling indebted to him, Yuusuke had vowed that his loyalty lay with him, and thus a sort of tight-knit bond had formed from there.

Yuusuke was only nine years old when he experienced true physical pain at the hands of a thug who found out he was Mr. Imamura's nephew. He had suffered a few broken ribs during that encounter, and it was then that he was introduced to Shuuichi Minamino for the first time. After being informed of his nephew's incident, he had persuaded the then thirteen-year-old redhead to teach him everything he learned growing up in the ghetto.

What Yuusuke did not understand, however, was how his uncle could say that he wished his nephew would not have to undergo all that he had but did not seem to show much concern on the same topic for his direct descendant. This did not sit too well with him for he had grown to love his cousin as much as if she were immediately related to him. "What about his own daughter? Doesn't he care that she's too good for that kind of life as well?"

"That's not really any of your business, cousin." When silence was the only answer she received, she offered him a wry smile and explained that he didn't have to worry so much about her. "I've been stained all my life, Yuusuke. You weren't there during the Imamura-Uesugi War twelve years ago. I was there, and I saw a lot of the shots being rallied and the torture that was inflicted upon my father's people. I never saw my dad doing cruel things in return, but I'm not that naïve to believe that it wasn't being done at all. None of this was what my dad wanted. Actually, he wanted to shield my mother and me from all of that, but there was no escaping all part of it. Everyone connected in some way to my dad or the Uesugi boss was bound to see a part of that war one way or another. It's just how things turned out. So now the only thing he can offer to my jaded youth is protection. Maybe the reason why he's so intent on not making you the next Yakuza boss is because he thinks he failed me."

The young man beside her said nothing, allowing a couple of stray bangs to obstruct his view of the trees in front of him. He could not remember when he was told, but he did hear about the Imamura-Uesugi War and what a destructive nightmare it had been. He did not, however, know that Botan was there to witness parts of it, and she had only been four at the time. Looking at her, he could not fathom how she could be so happy and full of life when she'd witnessed so many lives being taken away, and even more, by the very people she lived with.

"Anyway," Botan started, scuffing the ground with the heel of her shoe, "what was it exactly that you wanted to tell me?"

Yuusuke blinked and finished his cigarette before dropping it and grinding the tip against the concrete with his sneakers. "I'm gonna join the Youth Help Organization," he breathed.

Botan lifted one fine brow at his completely unexpected confession. The Youth Help Organization was a group formed by the school for students who wanted to find a way to deal with and fix the problems they were undergoing through their teenage careers.

"Who put you up to this, Yuusuke?"

Yuusuke laughed at her suspicion, and he didn't blame her. Though he had admitted to her more than once that he felt like such a fake Yakuza, he would never join a Youth Help group. It would be an embarrassment to his uncle. If he wanted to clean up, he would take it to his uncle personally and take things from there.

"That's the embarrassing part, actually." He reached up to gingerly rub at the back of his neck as he grinned sheepishly. "There was this girl I met over summer break. Um, she apparently went to our school because she knew who I was, but I didn't know she existed until she came up to me when I was in Shibuya, and she literally took the cigarette I was smoking out of my hands." He paused to chuckle at the memory. "I didn't think she knew my reputation as a well… troublemaker, I guess, but I was wrong."

He looked at his cousin who was listening intently, her brows once again creased over into a frown. He mentally chuckled for he guessed that she was wondering what right that girl had to do that and why he almost seemed like he didn't care. Under normal circumstances, he would already be telling her how he had mouthed the girl off. "Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up liking this girl. I met her again a couple of times at Shibuya, and that's when I found out she attended this school. And well, she encouraged me to go join this organization."

"You aren't really…?"

"No way," Yuusuke smirked. "I'm gonna go and risk being bored to death just to make that girl happy. It's not like I'll end up really changing into a different person if I join. I'll have your dad's men shoot me first." Yuusuke stopped to laugh at the prospect of him becoming a saint. If it were ever to happen, he would always have a demonic side to him. Always. Though he couldn't compare himself to his cousin, he knew that he, too, was just as stained. He had not seen all that she had, but he had done things that she had not, and those acts he had executed made him just as stained. "In any case, I didn't want you to suddenly connect my joining the Youth Help Organization to my previous statements about my feeling a little different as a Yakuza, okay? And, Botan, if it won't kill you, could you please refrain from telling your dad about this? At least not just yet. I don't want him to die of a heart attack at finding out that his nephew is stooping this low for a girl."

Botan said nothing, only gracing him with a small smile as she pushed herself from the ledge and walked back down the stairs to join the rest of her schoolmates.

-

**Author Notes: **I'm more than overjoyed and relieved that I finally finished this chapter. It's been a while since I updated, and I was becoming really scared that I'd forgotten the way in which I'd written the last three chapters (i.e. implications and double/hidden meanings).

I think this chapter is the longest out of the four chapters up now. I believe the Shuuichi-Botan interaction in the beginning plays a small factor in that. And oh my God! I'll admit that I may have gone a little overboard with it. I sincerely apologize for the excess amount of sexual innuendo in the first part of this chapter. I'm about to just change the rating of this story to R instead of PG-13 because at the rate things are going, it's gonna turn to R or maybe um… yeah. Oh my. Their conversation in the very beginning wasn't meant to turn out that way, nor was I trying to relate it to screwing, but as soon as Botan got all seductive-y towards Shuuichi, that's when he snaps. Remember that Shuuichi was not around to be with Botan during her break from school. It was implied in chapter 2. This whole fic is filled with implications and stuff so yeah… boo!

And then I guess I jumped a little ahead of myself when I got around to explaining Yuusuke and his background because I spent the longest time going back and forth trying to understand it myself. It was giving me a headache, literally. Argh! So if I got confused, I wouldn't blame you if your head starts spinning trying to understand it. If you do have a difficult time with it, please forgive me.

Is there anything else I'd like to clarify for all of you? I could try and summarize Yuusuke's whole background and ordeal minus the details, but I'm confused as it is. I wouldn't know where to begin. I need to give my brain a rest. (I'm even having a hard time writing out this final note.) Oh, yes. In the beginning where Botan suddenly refers to Shuuichi as "Shuuichi" instead of "sugar-muffin" – that will be explained later when she meets back up with Shuuichi. And one last thing I'd like to clear up is Yuusuke's character. He's not a sissy, okay? He's still tough, bad-ass, shit-talking, Yuusuke, but compared to the other Yakuza, he hasn't see his entire share of the blood-bath and what they're really capable of, and I'm just trying to say that Botan's father, if he can help it, doesn't want him to experience that at all. Yuusuke had a conscience in Yuu Yuu Hakusho but he kicked butt. He's the same here. Shuuichi, on the other hand, kicks both ass, but he's de-sensitized and pretty much doesn't have a conscience. He might have a little, but for the most part, he can kick its ass and make it disappear. I'll make it emerge later though. Haha… x As the author, I have power.

Also, it seems as though I'm putting the Yakuza in a good light. I don't want you to get the impression that I idolize them or that they're nice people, okay? Some of them could be, but I doubt it. I've seen movies where they're just really BAD people, and the boss is some fat guy that screws young girls. Ewwww! Mr. Imamura is not like that, okay? Anyway I haven't done an excess amount of research on them. I've only gotten tidbits here and there, but that's about it. For the purpose of this fic, I need to portray them as the protagonists here. If you've read the "The Godfather", it's similar in that Michael Corleone and his family were portrayed as the good guys even though, you know, they murdered people and stuff.

For the Shuuichi (Kurama) x Botan fans, here's a clique and fansite you can visit (pleas support us… even though it hasn't been updated in a while… I will… eventually):

http : pyreflies . nu / tomorrow

**Disclaimers: **I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho and it's characters. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Studio Pierrot, Fuji TV, Shonen Jump, etc. Do not sue. You are cool.


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